The Mockingcast

Adam opens the second day (October 28, 2017) of our "500 Years of Grace" event All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, MD.

It doesn’t take long at Mockingbird before one hears about... yes, here it comes... Law and Gospel. It is the name of the book after all. And while most of the fun is to be had in observing this versatile skeleton key to the human condition illustrated in everything from Finding Dory to David Bowie, or from Black Mirror to Axl Rose, the original Law/Gospel illustration, of course, came from Martin Luther’s BFF, Lucas Cranach the Elder, as evidenced below. On the left, expectation and obligation – with help from sin and death – send a helpless streaker toward an unwelcome barbeque (that’s Law). On the right, expectation is met by fulfillment. As the good news sinks in, a super-soaker of imputing blood jet streams from a side-wound, while sin and death get busted by a deputized sheep (that’s Gospel).

It would be perfectly serviceable to offer an extended talk on such wonderful illustrations, one of which bedazzles the front of Paul Zahl’s Short Systematic Theology. Cranach, after all, painted several variations, each of which convey different nuances to Law/Gospel dynamic. Nevertheless, addled as I am by the oppressive law of academia, with its merciless demand for originality, I am incapable of delivering something so straightforward, which, at any rate, has been done well in several top-notch publications.

Instead, I thought I’d look to artists from whom one would not expect such a message. Indeed, at the tenth anniversary conference I shall contend the Law/Gospel message can be found concealed in artists a long way from Wittenberg. The thrilling truth of grace emerges in art history just where you’d expect to hear something different (hence my title, “Hearing Law, Seeing Gospel”). What if the dynamic famously painted by Cranach could be found incognito in Orthodox icons, peeking from the unsurpassable achievements of Michelangelo and Pontormo, concealed in Catholic kitsch, even shining through the cult of creativity in contemporary art?

It’s all succinctly conveyed in the witty title, “camouflage Cranach,” really, but my wife said that sounded terrible.

We’re living in an age of “subjective sovereignty,” where life is “all the feels” and emotional offense is king. It is a time less describable by policy discord and differences of opinion, but instead by vindictive joy and holy rage. Arguments are couched in first-person noise—disagreements have the sting of personal attacks—which means the arguments are, on the whole, harder to argue or critique. As we’ve become “touchier” about the things we care about, the logic behind those sensitivities has also faded.

This trend goes hand in hand with another trend that’s been provoked, namely, that America is only becoming more spiritually bankrupt/unmoored. David Brooks recently wrote along these lines, that

You’d think this would lead to the age of great moral relativism, where all the objective strictures are let go and the only mantra remaining is “You Do You.” But this hasn’t happened. Instead, Brooks writes, “society has become a free-form demolition derby of moral confrontation.” It seems we feel so much, but we can’t seem to agree on why we feel it and who’s to blame.

So the answer, of course, is to get some Truth, right? Get to church! Fall on the Rock! God provides the mooring—the why behind your hurt—and the cross gives you your scapegoat. The Good News gives you your needed justification.

But what do you do with all that rage? Therapy? I don’t know about you, but the term “therapeutic” has always bristled—it sounds like the hippy-dippy opposite of “grounded” or “objective.” It sounds a lot more like “You Do You”—do what feels good to you. But this is largely a misunderstanding, mostly because of counseling that truly hasn't helped. Just as God gives us the Good News, God also administers his healing in the gracious counsel of another.

With the help of some of our favorites, let's look into the relationship between the objective News of the Gospel, and very subjective (though no-less-real) needs we carry around with us every day, and how those needs are addressed within the realm of pastoral care and counseling.

In which RJ, Sarah and Dave talk insane crafts, normie churches, dying neuroscientists, the healing power of children's books and hope in a weary world.

• Click here to respond to the opening appeal and support The Mockingcast.
• Click here to order a copy of The Success & Failure Issue of The Mockingbird Magazine.
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• Click here to listen to the recordings from our recent New York Conference.
• Click here to read the Vanity Fair interview with Kelly Williams Brown.
• Click here to read Brad East's post about Church for Normies.
• Click here to read David Linden's piece in The Atlantic, "A Neuroscientist Prepares for Death."
• Click here to read the NY Times report on the $200,000 Facelift.
• Click here to read Joey Goodall's article on Viewing the World With the Eyes of an 8-Year Old.
• Click here to listen to Krista Tippett's interview with Kate DiCamillo.
• Click here to read David Newheiser's piece on An Uncertain Hope.

For too long, the podcasting industry has flooded our ears with self-indulgent commentary and lazy sermonizing. Well, the answer to your commuting conundrum is finally here! We at Mockingbird are obsessed with side-stepping the noise and bringing 200 proof grace directly to your earbuds. Simple and seasonal, yet thoughtfully sourced and designed to fit in with your busy lifestyle, brace yourself for your new favorite listening experience. There is only one Mockingcast, and this is it.

In all seriousness though:

• To read the interview with Lana Del Rey, click here.
• To read the review of The Twittering Machine in Book Forum, click here.
• To read Bloomberg's "Welcome to Your Bland New World," click here.
• To read Duo Dickinson's "Love Across the Political Divide," click here.
• Oh and to read DZ's reflection on the Before films, click here.